PAULO COELHO: A series of thoughts on the things we call miracles

For a few months I have stimulated my readers to write in my blog on seven words that I consider fundamental to our world today: miracle, torture, prayer, suffering, advice, xenophobia (fear of the unfamiliar), and marriage.

Today begins the series of answers, using the given pseudonyms. If you want to view all the answers, visit www.paulocoelhoblog.com

Carmen Larissa: People do a lot of searching for something that will make a complete change to our existence, whereas the true miracle is to be here and now, accepting oneself: the ups and downs, the weak and the strong moments.

God is helping us, even if He does so in silence.

And don't forget: if you try to cast darkness on others, you will never illuminate yourself.

Radu: I don't talk to God every day, and He has never invited me to have a coffee with Him.

But I know that I am close to His Energy, and I try to take my steps in such a way that I am never ashamed of what I do.

And I have managed to do so, not only thanks to my efforts, but also to His vigilance at each and every moment.

This is a miracle.

Dasha: I can feel God breathing every time I breathe in.

No matter what happens, He is breathing with me.

Mirjam: A miracle is re-discovering oneself as a child.

Finding a reason for fighting, managing to protect oneself without losing one's innocence.

Miracle is communicating with others, and finding oneself.

Jesse King: To be like a flower, and to understand that everything passes.

To look at the wind and to become the wind, because you are capable of loving enough to change reality.

C.L.: Don't fool yourself, the problems facing you aren't just going to disappear in the air. Keep trying to solve them; if you do so, you will discover that everything ends up being easier than you think.

As the darkness disappears, the light appears, but don't stop - try to become this light.

Karen: Love without wisdom is not love.

Wisdom without love is not wisdom. May our hearts be capable of loving and understanding.

Eme: At each moment that I pursue my dreams, the road of miracles opens up to me.

What joy!

What pain!

What intensity!

And because of all this I feel more beautiful, because I know that each piece of me is exactly where it should be now.

There are moments when I am dead scared and want to run back, but then something happens, a Divine presence embraces me, comforts me and lights up my path again.

Neel Potgieter: I was walking down the beach the other day, and when I was about to cross the street I saw a girl talking on her mobile phone.

She was about to cross the street too, but from where I was positioned I could see that a car was coming in her direction.

I shouted to her to be careful, but she did not hear me.

She stepped into the street and just at the moment I expected a tragedy to happen, she stooped to remove a little stone from her shoe.

The car passed by, just missing her.

Miracles are what happens every day!

Paulo Coelho: I am sitting here in a bar, one of the many bars in many cities all over the world, writing this column.

Ever since I was a child I have dreamed of living moments like this, and I only managed to do so when I was almost forty years old.

The sun's out, it's springtime, people are happy, and although the world is not as perfect as we would all like it to be, nobody seems indifferent, everyone tries to make something better.

At this very moment I am doing what I most like, and that is the miracle that I try to work every day.

Translated from Portuguese by James Mulholland

(Paulo Coelho is one of the most widely read authors in the world. His best known works include The Alchemist, Eleven Minutes and Manuscript Found in Accra.)